While many crash investigation courses focus on the interpretation of physical evidence to determine "how" a collision occurred, this course will examine a variety of human factors to determine "why" a collision occurred.

This course utilizes lectures, discussions, in-class demonstrations and outside field exercises to give you an appreciation for the importance of human factors in explaining collision causation. You will gain an understanding of how frail human evidence is and why the ability to interpret and analyze physical evidence is critical to the success of any collision investigator.

In addition to the driver, vehicle, and roadway characteristics that must be considered in an investigation, this course also addresses the nature of perception and reaction, the factors affecting the investigator's choice of perception-reaction values as well as eyewitness reliability.

Utilizing lectures, discussions and in-class demonstrations, Dr. Jeff Muttart will introduce you to scientific studies and analysis to answer the key questions involving aspects of driver behavior: reaction times (and delays), perception, visibility and impairment, among others. Topics will focus on obtaining a better understanding of what needs to be accomplished to assess the human role in the crash sequence.

You will be introduced to both the IDRR and V*Star software programs—tools you can use to help analyze driver’s responses—and will learn how to incorporate them into your crash reconstruction. The IDRR software is based on research from Jeff and others in the field.

Pedestrian and bicycle crashes are one of the most frequent types of injurious crashes in urban areas. Because of their unique nature, special techniques are required to investigate and reconstruct these incidents.

This course addresses the special dynamics involved in pedestrian and bicycle traffic crashes. From reaction times to victim injury analysis to environmental factors, you’ll learn to recognize and interpret the evidence and correlate it with the collision sequence.

For many traffic crash reconstructionists, the topic of energy can be intimidating, mysterious or down right scary. Because of this, reconstructionists shy away from utilizing energy methods in their analysis. This course will help de-mystify the concept of energy and present energy-based methods and techniques to use in analyzing traffic crashes.

During the course, you will learn to view and analyze crashes from an energy point of view. We will explore energy methods beginning with the basics and progressing to more advanced concepts. We will discuss the often-misunderstood topics of Equivalent Barrier Speed (EBS) and delta-V and you will learn different ways to analyze collisions, such as damage momentum, where a traditional conservation of linear momentum may not be the most appropriate analysis.

We will also explore the topic of crush. We will examine the basis of the three familiar energy equations that use crush measurements. Outside projects will provide you with “hands-on” experience in examining and measuring crash vehicles and then calculating damage energy and speeds.

This course will help you become more comfortable in utilizing energy-based methods in your analysis as we examine the underlying science that computer-based “crash” programs rely upon. It is an excellent complement to other training courses that teach you how to use “crash” software.

You should have a firm understanding of the topics of traffic crash reconstruction and conservation of linear momentum as well as strong basic math skills.